Where in the world shocked Anthony Horowitz with its beauty? Sri Lanka!

Daily Telegraph UK’s travel and destinations correspondent Anthony Horowitz writes: “You can’t fly halfway around the world and just sit on a beach.

“So, after a perfect week in Galle, on the south coast of Sri Lanka (described in my column last month), I set off with my wife to explore the interior.

“Our first ports of call were the tea plantations around Nuwara Eliya, said to provide some of the most gorgeous scenery around – and this in a country where thick jungle, luxuriant vegetation and green, plunging hillsides provide one jaw-dropping view after another.”

And the verdict: “Unless you are a tea picker, this is one of the loveliest places on Earth.”

He concludes: “On our last day in Sri Lanka, we left the hotel and walked into the local village where we got lost, following winding paths through the paddy fields.

“This was in many ways my favourite part of the trip. The sun was shining and the people we passed were so welcoming that for a moment I felt connected; a visitor rather than a tourist.

“We had probably driven too much and seen too little, but aren’t all modern holidays a bit like that? The secret, of course, is to go back.”